Melissa Hayes/The Jersey JournalSpectra Energy's Project Manager Ed Gonzalez talks to a group of residents and property owners about the proposed natural gas pipeline through Jersey City and Bayonne during an open house at School 9 in Jersey City tonight.

Jersey City residents and property owners asked Spectra Energy officials tough questions during an open house in Jersey City’s School 9 tonight.

Chief among the concerns was why a natural gas pipeline that will provide energy to New York had to be routed through Jersey City and Bayonne.

Spectra’s Project Manager Ed Gonzalez said there wasn’t ample space in New York for a meter and regulating site, which would require about an acre and a half of land.

The Jersey City meter station would likely go somewhere between the New Jersey Turnpike Extension Bridge and the area of 17th and 18th streets between Monmouth and Jersey avenues, Spectra officials said.

View full sizeMelissa Hayes/The Jersey JournalA map at Spectra Energy's open house at School 9 in Jersey City shows the proposed natural gas pipeline through Jersey City, down 18th Street through the Newport development.

But Marcy Boyle, senior vice president of the LeFrak Organization, developer of Newport in Jersey City, argued that there is plenty of space and the company just chooses to go through Jersey City.

Gonzalez said PSE&G has also expressed interest in tapping into Spectra’s natural gas line in Jersey City.

“As growth continues in Jersey City there will be a need for additional gas,” he said.

Gonzalez also touted the project saying it would bring about 300 construction jobs and about $2 million in taxes to the city annually.

But Boyle said development of the north east portion near the Target on Washington Boulevard would create 17,000 construction jobs and 3,600 residential units. That does not include parcels the developer owns along 18th Street near the proposed meter station sites.

Boyle said LeFrak is still concerned about the safety of Newport.

“We don’t think that it belongs here,” she said. “We’re doing our best to protect our interests, which is really the economic interests of Jersey City.”

More than a dozen residents attended tonight’s open house, many asking tough questions. But Gonzalez said that’s the point of the meetings, to allow residents to express concerns and ask questions.

“They’re all good questions,” he said. “We didn’t expect everything to be easy.”